The idea that the ancients were ‘astronomers’ is egregiously misfounded. They did not have the concepts for star or planet that we have, nor did they understand the model ‘solar system’. It would be more accurate to say they were ‘sky mariners’… in that the most likely metaphor for the night sky was a form of ocean.

They were extremely interested in its activities… but not as astronomers. As travelers and witnesses. As children. And, perhaps, in some cases, as ‘those afloat’ within it might be. And from these perspectives, the elements that appear to have been peculiarly interesting were the Sun, the Moon, Venus, (the other planets), the Pleiades, and the pole star.